USAJOBS - Job Announcement

Explore a new career with the BLM - where our people are our greatest natural resource.

For additional information about the BLM, please visit our website.

This position is located in Fairbanks, Alaska. Information about the surrounding area may be found here https://www.fairbanksalaska.us/.

We expect to fill one vacancy at this time; however, this announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies.

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Reviewing applications

Open & closing dates

12/10/2019 to 12/31/2019
Salary

$69,349 - $108,061 per year
Pay scale & grade

GS 11 - 12
Location
- Fairbanks, AK 1 vacancy
Telework eligible

Yes—as determined by the agency policy.
Relocation expenses reimbursed

Yes— Travel and relocation expenses will be paid consistent with the Federal Travel Regulation, Chapter 302, and Departmental policy. The use of a relocation service company and home marketing incentive WILL NOT be offered. Please Note: The selectee will be responsible for tax obligations related to payments for moving expenses - 2017 Tax Cuts and Job Act, Public Law 115-97. Refer to the “Additional Information” section.
Appointment type

Permanent - This is a permanent appointment.
Work schedule

Full-Time
Service

Competitive
Promotion potential

12 - If filled at a lower grade level, subsequent promotion to the next grade level will be processed without further competition dependent upon administrative approval and the continuing need and performance of higher-level duties.
Job family (Series)

0401 General Natural Resources Management And Biological Sciences
Supervisory status

No
Security clearance

Not Required
Drug test

Yes
Announcement number

FA-WLF-MP-2020-0023
Control number

553849900

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Clarification from the agency

All current or former federal employees with competitive/reinstatement eligibility // CTAP/ICTAP eligibles within the local commuting area // Veterans' Employment Opportunity Act (VEOA) Eligibles // Persons eligible under Special Hiring Authorities // Current or former time-limited employees eligible under PL-114-47, Land Management Workforce Flexibility Act (LMWFA) // Public Land Corps (PLC) eligibles who within the past two years have completed all requirements of a creditable PLC project

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Evaluates associated data and techniques to develop improved incorporation into wildland fire management and planning.

Analyzes Canadian Forest Fire Danger Rating System (CFFDRS) outputs to assess fuels and fire danger concerns, and anticipated fire behavior.

Communicates differences between the Canadian and the National Fire Danger Rating System (NFDRS), and is able to articulate why the Canadian system is used in Alaska.

Determines appropriate method and system(s) to develop fire behavior predictions.

Institutes or recommends changes in the development and trial of new methods and approaches for fire behavior analyses.

Establishes and maintains contact with all levels of fire management officials within federal and state agencies.

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Conditions of Employment

U.S. Citizenship is required
Be sure to read the "How to Apply" and "Required Documents" Sections
You cannot hold an active real estate license; nor can you
have an interest or hold stocks in firms with interest in Federal Land
Direct Deposit Required
Security Clearance/Background Investigation Required

** This vacancy announcement has been EXTENDED; previous applicants need not REapply **

Applicants who previously applied do not need to apply again to be considered but may take this opportunity to update information/resume/responses or submit required documentation outlined in the vacancy announcement.

Physical Demands: Normally sedentary, but does require some physical exertion such as walking over rough, steep, uneven terrain in all types of weather.

Work Environment: Most work is performed in an office setting, with some travel to the field where temperatures are frequently extreme, both from weather and fire conditions.

This is a secondary/administrative firefighter position under the special retirement provisions of 5 U.S.C. 8336(c) (CSRS) and 5 U.S.C. 8412(d) (FERS). While secondary positions are not subject to the maximum entry age policy, the selectee must have prior service in a primary position and meet the transfer requirement for movement from a primary to secondary position to be eligible for special retirement coverage. It is the responsibility of the applicant to ensure this office has enough information to determine your retirement status to ensure you do not lose benefits (normally through submission of your SF-50). YOU MUST LET US KNOW IF YOU ARE CURRENTLY IN A PRIMARY POSITION.

Passage of a pre-employment physical is required. You must also pass the work capacity test for light positions.

Qualifications

Basic Education Required:

Degree in biological sciences, agriculture, natural resource management, chemistry, or related disciplines appropriate to the position. –OR- Combination of education and experience: courses equivalent to a major in biological sciences, agriculture or natural resources management, or at least 24 semester hours in biological sciences, natural resources, wildland fire management, forestry, or agriculture equivalent to a major field of study, plus appropriate experience or additional education that is comparable to that normally acquired through the successful completion of a full 4-year course of study in the biological sciences, agriculture, or natural resources.

Additional Experience Required:

In addition to meeting the basic education requirements, you must meet specialized experience requirements.

Specialized Experience Requirements:

In order to be rated as qualified for this position, we must be able to determine that you meet the specialized experience requirement; please be sure to include this information in your resume. To be creditable, this experience must have been equivalent in difficulty and complexity to the next lower grade of the position to be filled.

To qualify for the GS-11 grade level, 1 year of creditable specialized experience equivalent to the GS-09 is required. Experience must have included ALL of the fire program management elements described as: 1) developing, reviewing and evaluating fire management plans for ecological soundness or consistency with land management goals and/or potentially adverse impacts to cultural and natural resources; 2) conducting field inspections before and after prescribed or wildland fires to determine if resource objectives were achieved and/or evaluating the effectiveness of actions taken; and 3) analyzing the ecological role of fire and its use and/or exclusion, and smoke management.

IN ADDITION to fire program management elements listed above, appropriate experience must have included EITHER prescribed fire/fuels management - OR - fire management operations.

1) Prescribed fire/fuels management: examples include: performing professional forest or range inventory methods and procedures, (e.g. Brown's planar intercept for dead and down fuels; live fuel loading assessments); analyzing fuel loadings and determining appropriate fuel treatment methods and programming; performing land use planning and environmental coordination; and/or evaluating prescribed burn plans or fire management plans to ensure fire containment is possible and identifying appropriate suppression contingencies if fire containment is not obtained; -OR- 2) Fire Management Operations: experience in analyzing and/or applying fire management strategies in at least five of the following activities: a) Mobilization and dispatch coordination; b) Fire prevention and education; c) Training; d) Logistics; e) Equipment development and deployment; f) Fire communication systems; g) Suppression and preparedness; h) Aviation.

To qualify for the GS-12 grade level, 1 year of creditable specialized experience equivalent to the GS-11 is required. Examples of specialized experience include: provide ongoing analysis of wild land fire potential and decision support to federal and state agencies. Communicate with federal and state fire managers at their regional/state/area offices. Utilize and train agency employees with Canadian Forest Fire Danger Rating System.

Substitution of Education for Experience:

GS-11: 3 years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a Ph.D degree of Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree in a field of study that is directly related to this position -OR- an equivalent combination of specialized experience and education.

There is no substitution of education for experience at the GS-12 and above grade levels.

Federal employees in the competitive service are also subject to the Time-In-Grade requirement in accordance with 5 CFR 300.604. If you are a current Federal employee in the General Schedule (GS) pay plan and applying for a promotion opportunity, you must have completed a minimum of 52 weeks at the next lower grade level in the normal line of progression for the position being filled.

You must meet all qualification requirements within 30 days of the closing date of the announcement.

Selective Placement Factor(s): This position requires a special qualification that has been determined to be essential to perform the duties and will be used as a screen out element. Those who do not provide evidence they possess the following selective factor(s) will be rated not qualified.

1) Prior on-the-line firefighting: The Department of the Interior defines wildland firefighting experience as any non-structure fire that occurs in the wildland. Wildland firefighting experience is gained through work on the fire line in containment, control, suppression or use of wildland fire. This experience can be met by serving in a temporary, seasonal, or equivalent private sector fire position for no less than 90 days. Wildland fires are categorized into two distinct types: (1) Wildfires – Unplanned ignitions or prescribed fires that are declared wildfires; and (2) Prescribed Fires – Planned ignitions. This description includes only fireline experience on a Prescribed Fire; it does not include experience in the planning stages. Prescribed fire experience must be supplemented by fire suppression experience in order to be creditable as previous wildland firefighting experience. This experience must be documented with specific dates in the online application or resume.

2) Applicants must be currently qualified in one of the two following positions: Fire Behavior Analyst (FBAN) OR Long Term Analyst (LTAN).

You must meet all selective placement factor requirements by the closing date of the announcement unless stated otherwise.

Additional information

May require completion of a one year probationary period.

Tax Law Impact for PCS: On 22-Dec-2017, Public Law 115-97 - the "Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 suspended qualified moving expense deductions along with the exclusion for employer reimbursements and payments of moving expenses effective 01-Jan-2018 for tax years 2018 through 2025. The law made taxable certain reimbursements and other payments, including driving mileage, airfare and lodging expenses, en-route travel to the new duty station, and temporary storage of those items. The Federal Travel Regulation Bulletin (FTR) 18-05 issued by General Services Administration (GSA) has authorized agencies to use the Withholding Tax Allowance (WTA) and Relocation Income Tax Allowance (RITA) to pay for "substantially all" of the increased tax liability resulting from the "2018 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act" for certain eligible individuals. For additional information on WTA/RITA allowances and eligibilities, please visit: Federal Travel Regulation - GSA Bulletin FTR 18-05

Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP)/Interagency Career Transition Assistance Program (ICTAP): CTAP provides eligible surplus and displaced Federal competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. Information about CTAP/ICTAP eligibility is available from OPM's Career Transition Resources website at CTAP or ICTAP. If your agency has notified you in writing that you are a surplus or displaced employee eligible for CTAP consideration or that you are a displaced employee eligible for ICTAP consideration, you may receive selection priority if: 1) This vacancy is within your CTAP/ICTAP eligibility; 2) You apply under the instructions in this announcement; and 3) You are found well-qualified for this vacancy. You must provide proof of eligibility with your application to receive selection priority. Such proof may include a copy of your written notification of CTAP/ICTAP eligibility, or a copy of your separation personnel action form.

CTAP and ICTAP eligibles will be considered well qualified if they receive a minimum score of 90 based on the rating criteria used for this position.

Reemployment Priority List (RPL): The RPL is the mechanism agencies use to give reemployment consideration to their former competitive service employees separated by a RIF or who have fully recovered from a compensable injury after more than one year. If you are currently on a RPL, you may be given priority consideration.

The BLM has determined that the duties of this position are suitable for telework only during an emergency or natural disaster.

Government facilities are required to provide a smoke free environment for their employees. Smoking will be permitted only in designated areas.

FACT SHEET for Fire & Law Enforcement Positions: Information on Special Retirement.

Benefits

A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new windowLearn more about federal benefits.

Review our benefits

Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

Upon receipt of your complete application package, a review of your application will be made to ensure you meet the basic qualification requirements. Your rating will be based on your responses to the Job Specific Questionnaire and the information stated in your resume. If qualified, your score may range from 70-100 points. In addition, interviews may be conducted for this position. The interviews may be conducted on a pass/fail basis or may be scored. The job specific questions relate to the following knowledge, skills and abilities required to do the work of this position.

KSA 1 - Knowledge of fire weather, fuels and ecological factors that determine fire behavior.

KSA 2 - Skill in the use of fire behavior systems and their applications.

KSA 3 - Skill in performing analysis of fire behavior systems.

KSA 4 - Ability to perform research for advancing the fields of fuels, fire weather, fire behavior and the fire danger.

KSA 5 - Skill in oral and written communications

To preview questions please click here.

A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new windowLearn more about federal benefits.

Review our benefits

Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.

As a new or existing federal employee, you and your family may have access to a range of benefits. Your benefits depend on the type of position you have - whether you're a permanent, part-time, temporary or an intermittent employee. You may be eligible for the following benefits, however, check with your agency to make sure you're eligible under their policies.

Resumes must show relevant experience and other information. Your resume MUST list your education and work experience including (1) the dates (mm/yy) of each employment, along with (2) the number of hours worked per week, and (3) salary information. Civil service employees must provide their current OPM title, series, and grade. Your resume will be used to validate your responses to the assessment tool(s).

In addition to the online application (resume and responses to the questionnaire), you are required to submit the following forms:

- Current and former federal career and career-conditional employees: submit a copy of your recent (non award) SF-50, Notification of Personnel Action, or equivalent document that verifies tenure (block 24, code 1 or 2) and Competitive Status (block 34, code 1).

- You must provide copies of all your transcripts for verification that include hours and grades from an accredited U.S. college/university by the closing date. If your degree is from a Foreign Institution, See Foreign Education. All selections and tentative offers of selection are contingent upon submission and verification of ‘official’ transcripts.

- You must provide a copy of your Incident Qualification and Certification System (IQCS) Master Record or other equivalent documentation which verifies you meet the required NWCG qualifications. Failure to provide this documentation by the closing dated of the announcement will result in you being rated as not qualified.

- Veterans’ Employment Opportunities Act (VEOA) of 1998 allows preference eligibles or veterans to compete for vacancies under merit promotion procedures. To be eligible for a VEOA appointment, a veteran must be a preference eligible OR veteran separated after 3 or more years of continuous active service performed under honorable conditions. VEOA eligibles that separate with 30 or less days prior to completion of the three-years of continuous active duty service requirement are eligible to receive consideration. You must submit Member Copy 4 of your DD-214 to verify eligibility. Veterans will be rated and ranked with other merit promotion eligibles. For more information, please go to OPMs website at: www.fedshirevets.gov.

- Career Transition Assistance Program (CTAP) or Interagency Career Transition Assistance Program (ICTAP) eligibles: documentation verifying your CTAP/ICTAP eligibility - this includes a copy of the agency notice and your most recent SF-50 noting current position, grade level and duty location.

- If you are applying for this position based on eligibility under other noncompetitive special appointing authorities, you MUST submit proof of this eligibility.

-Former PLC Member: Submit a copy of your “Certificate of Eligibility for Noncompetitive Hiring” along with a copy of your “PLC Participant Verification Work Hours Sheet.”

-Applicants eligible under PL-114-47, Land Management Workforce Flexibility Act (LMWFA) must submit documentation verifying (a) initial selection under competitive examining procedures to a land management agency under a time-limited appointment in the competitive service, (b) service under this initial appointment, or in conjunction with subsequent competitive service time-limited appointments, was for a period of 24 months without a break in service of two or more years, and (c) performance was evaluated as being at an acceptable level for the entire applicable period(s). “Required documentation” includes first and last SF-50 (Notification of Personnel Action) for each appointment verifying the Position Occupied code (block 34, code 1-Competitive Service), AND documentation of successful performance for each appointment. Failure to submit required documentation will result in loss of consideration.

Submitting Required Documents: You may submit your documents either via Auto-Requested Fax or by uploading your documents from your USAJOBS Profile. Do not use both options.

1) Auto-Requested Fax: allows you to submit required documentation that will be electronically displayed along with your resume. The opportunity to do this will be provided during the application process by a pop-up message option to generate an auto-requested fax cover sheet. – OR–

2) Uploading Documents: instead of faxing your documents you may use the uploading procedures thru Applicant Manager.

Hard copy paper supplemental documents, submitted without prior Human Resources approval, will be considered as an incomplete application.

Required documentation must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time, on the closing date of this announcement.

If you are determined to be eligible and best qualified, you will be referred to the selecting official for consideration. Applicants should monitor their status for positions by regularly checking their public status notifications in the USAJOBS profile.

If you are relying on your education to meet qualification requirements:

Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in order for it to be credited towards qualifications. Therefore, provide only the attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.

Failure to provide all of the required information as stated in this vacancy announcement may result in an ineligible rating or may affect the overall rating.

To receive consideration for this position, you must provide a complete Application Package, which includes ALL of the following items: 1) Your responses to the Assessment Questionnaire; 2) Your resume; and 3) Applicable supporting documents specified in the Required Documents section of this job announcement.

Click on the button "Apply Online" and login to MY USAJOBS.

If you haven't already registered with USAJOBS, the system will require you to create a user name and password, complete a questionnaire and upload, paste or type a resume into USAJOBS.

If you have already registered with USAJOBS and forgot your login information, select the "Did you forget your username and/or password" link from the right side menu.

Your application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM Eastern Time by the closing date of this announcement.

If you need assistance in applying on-line, please contact the Human Resources Office via email at blm_fa_nifc_hr_external@blm.gov. If applying on-line poses a hardship for you (i.e., you do not have access to the internet) you must contact us prior to the closing date of the announcement for an alternative method of applying.

Agency contact information

Human Resources Office

Phone: 208-387-5534
Fax: 000-000-0000
Email: blm_fa_nifc_hr_external@blm.gov
Address: Bureau of Land Management
Fire & Aviation (NIFC)
Human Resources Office (MS-1700)
3833 South Development Ave
Boise, Idaho 83705-5354
United States

Learn more about this agency

Next steps

You will be notified of the status of your application as the qualification review process is conducted. You may also check the status of your application by viewing your MY USAJOBs account.

The Federal hiring process is set up to be fair and transparent. Please read the following guidance.